Police Chief Seeks Bidding Waiver To Acquire 2 Bikes

February 04, 2002|By OSHRAT CARMIEL; Courant Staff Writer

EAST HARTFORD — Hoping to take advantage of a local motorcycle dealership's special lease offer, police Chief Mark Sirois has asked the council to waive the public bidding process for two new Harley-Davidson bikes that the department would like to buy.

Sirois, who wrote last week to Mayor Timothy D. Larson, asked that the department be allowed to lease the bikes specifically from the Gengras Harley-Davidson/Buell dealership soon to locate on Connecticut Boulevard. He said that the price was reasonable and that the department would prefer to patronize a local business.

Sirois said that the dealership has offered to lease the department two bikes for two years each at $150 a month. And it would allow the department to pay for the lease by trading in two older model Harley-Davidsons that it currently owns.

``There's an opportunity at this time to get a very very competitive lease,'' Sirois said.

Normally, things as expensive as Harley-Davidson bikes are subject to the state competitive purchasing laws. Those laws, aimed at preventing favoritism and ensuring that the town get the best deal, demand that any purchase valued at more than $5,000 must be put out for a public bid, said Richard F. Kehoe, the Democratic town council chairman.

Sirois' request to waive the prices for $40,000 worth of motorcycles has raised eyebrows among leaders of both parties on the council, which will discuss the request at a meeting Tuesday night.

``Who's to say that a larger dealer might not give us a better price?'' asked Republican Minority Leader Robert J. Fortier. ``I'm not sure that we shouldn't bid something that costs about $20,000 each for the excuse that we're trying to keep it in East Hartford.''

Kehoe said he would raise a similar question.

``We have someone who is willing to take these as a trade-in, but is there anyone else who will take them?'' he asked.

Sirois said that the department has long used Harley-Davidsons for traffic enforcement and that any public bid for motorcycles would likely be restricted to that brand. Other kinds of motorcycles -- like Kawasaki -- that have been bid in the past just did not pass muster, Sirois said.

Fortier said he questioned the need for brand-name bikes as well.

``Why do we need to get Harley's?'' he asked. ``Does it necessarily have to be a Harley-Davidson? Is that an ego thing?''